In response to the threat of species extinction caused by human activity and inspired by the world community’s growing commitment to sustainable development, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), led by Maurice Strong, convened the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Biological Diversity in November 1988 to explore the need for an international convention on biological diversity. The UNEP established the Ad Hoc Working Group of Technical and Legal Experts to prepare an international legal instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. [1, 2, 5]
By February 1991, the Ad Hoc Working Group had become known as the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. At the May 22, 1992 Nairobi Conference the “agreed text” was adopted for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The CBD was opened for signatures on June 5, 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (the Rio “Earth Summit”) and by June 4, 1993 it had received 168 Member State signatures. The Convention entered into force on December 29, 1993. [4]
Following the convention, they identified a need for “a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21 into reality,” – The UNEP created the Global Biodiversity Assessment book which was published in 1995 by Cambridge University. This book “takes Agenda 21 and breaks down what each Nation is going to look like to save the planet…it tells you what is not sustainable, and therefore needs to be limited or eliminated. [3]